


Heat Wave

by draculard



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Implied/Referenced Incest, Puppy Love, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-16 22:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20610623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard
Summary: It's late July, and Mabel can't help but notice Grunkle Stan's muscular arms when he rolls up his sleeves to escape the heat.Maybe she's getting a little too boy-crazy lately.





	Heat Wave

It’s late July, and all of Gravity Falls has been gripped by a heat wave for more than a week, and this means it’s inevitable that people will shed layers. For Mabel, this means wearing only her lightest knits  — the short-sleeved ones only  — and for Dipper it means abandoning his puffer vests for simple t-shirts.

For Grunkle Stan, it means rolling up his sleeves  — and unfortunately, that’s when it hits Mabel.

Boy fever.

Again.

They’re working on a new exhibit for the Mystery Shack, a winged beaver display which Grunkle Stan swears will bring in new visitors, and there’s a sheen of sweat on Grunkle Stan’s forearms, and the corded muscles there are bulging as he nails the beaver onto its stand, and the smell of rust and engine grease and tobacco is surrounding him in a heady miasma that Mabel can’t escape.

_ Oh, this is a weird feeling, _ she thinks. It’s a weirdly  _ familiar _ feeling  — a fluttering in her stomach, a nervousness that makes her blush and stammer and avert her eyes, a soaring sensation of delight that lurches up inside her every time he looks her way.

And of course, that’s when she realizes it’s a crush.

A crush on her grunkle.

A crush on  _ Grunkle Stan. _

Oh God, this is bad.

* * *

It’s probably the first secret she doesn’t share with Dipper, the first thing she knows instinctively that she can never tell him. He’s never understood any of her crushes, and he certainly won’t understand this one  — because Grunkle Stan is old, because he’s gross, because he’s skeevy and greedy and mean —

Because he’s related to them. 

That’s the part Mabel’s brain refuses to accept. Whenever she comes across the prickly problem of her family tree, her mind skitters into different directions all at once, leaving the issue untouched and unexamined so she can wonder instead if Grunkle Stan is a good kisser (she decides he probably is, but that his whiskers will cause a scratching sensation, and that’ll take some getting used to). 

Eventually, when her crush doesn’t fade away and she’s forced to face the problem at hand, she comes up with this solution:

She doesn’t care.

_ Well, gee,  _ Mabel thinks, brightening.  _ That was easy. _

She examines herself in the mirror, wondering if Grunkle Stan will care, if he’ll reject her. Will he think her hair is too bushy? Will he be turned off by her braces? Will he think she’s too young, or  — she eyes the rainbow kitty sweater she’s wearing  — too childish?

Dipper glances up from his book and catches her staring at the mirror. He scowls and turns away, and Mabel knows what he’s thinking:  _ Another crush. Just what I needed. _

He has  _ no _ idea.


End file.
